For Washington state, pot is legal – and now what?

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SEATTLE People openly lit joints under the Space Needle and on Seattle's sidewalks – then blew the smoke at TV news cameras. To those looking to “get baked,” the city's police department suggested pizza and a “Lord of the Rings” movie marathon.

What, exactly, is going on in Washington state?

Marijuana possession became legal under state law Thursday, the day a measure approved by voters to regulate marijuana like alcohol took effect. It prompted midnight celebrations from pot activists who say the war on drugs has failed.

But as the dawn of legalization arrives, Washington and Colorado, where a similar law passed last month, now face some genuinely complicated dilemmas: How do you go about creating a functioning, legal weed market? How do you ensure adults the freedom to use pot responsibly, or not so responsibly, while keeping it away from teenagers?

And will the Justice Department just stand by while the states issue licenses to the growers, processors and sellers of a substance that, under federal law, remains very much illegal?

“We're building this from the ground all the way up,” said Brian Smith, spokesman for the Washington Liquor Control Board, which is charged with regulating the drug. “The initiative didn't just wave a magic wand and make everybody here an expert on marijuana.”

The measures approved Nov. 6 have two main facets. First, they OK the possession of up to an ounce of marijuana by adults over 21. That took effect Thursday in Washington, though it remains illegal – for now – to sell pot.

The other part of the measures, the regulatory schemes, are trickier. Washington's Liquor Control Board, which has been regulating alcohol for 78 years, has a year to adopt rules for the fledgling pot industry: How many growers, processors and stores should there be in each county? Should there be limits on potency? How should the pot be inspected, packaged and labeled?

To help answer those questions, officials will turn to experts in the field – including police, public policy experts and some of the state's many purveyors of medical marijuana. Smith anticipates undercover monitoring operations to make sure the private, state-licensed stores aren't selling to minors.

The marijuana will be taxed, with revenues possibly reaching hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

Seattle's police department emailed its 1,300 officers, telling them not to write citations for smoking pot in public until further notice. An initiative passed in 2003 made marijuana enforcement the department's lowest priority, and for years officers have looked the other way while thousands lit up at Hempfest, a marijuana festival.

Officers will nevertheless advise people not to smoke in public, police spokesman Jonah Spangenthal-Lee wrote on the SPD Blotter. “The police department believes that, under state law, you may responsibly get baked, order some pizzas and enjoy a `Lord of the Rings' marathon in the privacy of your own home, if you want to.”

He offered a catchy new directive referring to the film “The Big Lebowski,” popular with many marijuana fans: “The Dude abides, and says ‘take it inside!' ”

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